Why isn’t Another Simple Favor in theaters? The sequel to 2018’s A Simple Favor is good enough to be there, considerably better than a lot of the comedies that we get these days. Of course, the easy answer is lead actress Blake Lively’s legal troubles stemming from her collaboration with Justin Baldoni It Ends With Us, which have shown her in an unflattering light. (To be clear, they have shown Baldoni in a far worse light.)
That answer is too easy, though. The studio has missed a trick: Lively is not playing some innocent heroine in this sequel, but someone who wears designer labels while she threatens to sue everybody. That would have killed in a multiplex, along with the Italian scenery. Unfortunately, you’ll have to settle for it on Amazon Prime, where it premieres today, and where you’ll likely find this new murder mystery highly entertaining.
Some years after the events of the original film, Stephanie Smothers (Anna Kendrick) has become a published true-crime author, though her book sales are flagging until the day that Emily (Lively) strides into a book reading she’s giving and proclaims herself the killer, who is out of prison on appeal. She then threatens a lawsuit if Stephanie doesn’t travel to the isle of Capri to be the maid of honor at her wedding to her new Italian husband (Michele Morrone). Emily’s ex-husband Sean (Henry Golding) has also been dragged to the ceremony by a court order, so he retaliates by getting very drunk at the rehearsal dinner and vowing to sue Emily for full custody of their son (Ian Ho), as well as calling the groom “some budget mafioso” in front of the entire wedding party. He’ll live to regret that.
The bitchery here isn’t confined to Sean. The sequel has raised the original’s bitchiness in tandem with its body count. The groom’s mother (Elena Sofia Ricci) tells everyone that her son is making the mistake of his life by marrying an American: “Che cazzo fai? Io sono all’inferno, ed io sono punita per i miei peccati.” She embarrasses Emily by inviting her long-lost religious nut of a mother (Elizabeth Perkins, taking over the role from Jean Smart), who calls her own grandson the spawn of Satan, also in front of the whole wedding party. Stephanie herself gives a toast at the wedding reception: “Marriage is forever. Well, except for Emily’s, which ended with murder-suicide and her trying to kill me, but I’m sure you two will be great together.”
Screenwriters Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis are not adapting a novel this time, and so they add on even wilder plot twists — yes, even crazier than the original’s revelation that Emily was a pair of identical twins. It makes little sense that the murders get pinned on Stephanie, but she would be in a lot less trouble if the people around her weren’t incredibly bad at their jobs, including her literary agent (Alex Newell), the cops on Capri, and the FBI agent (Taylor Ortega) sent to transport Stephanie back to America. Stephanie’s big secret from the first movie — spoiler alert — is her incestuous affair with her half-brother, before her husband found out about them and murder-suicided himself and her sibling. Emily keeps casually promising to reveal that tidbit to Steph’s fans, but then something that’s too juicy to spoil here prevents her.
Director Paul Feig doesn’t manage the hijinks as well as he did in the original, particularly during the climactic sequence at Tiberius’ Leap. Allison Janney shows up as Emily’s aunt, and we know she’s a red herring, because filmmakers don’t cast the Oscar winner to be a glorified background extra. The social-media discourse around Stephanie was a big part of the humor in the original, but that is lost here. The filmmakers might have done more with the difficulties of her posting videos while under house arrest.
The actresses and the comedy are enough to recommend the film nevertheless, as Emily trolls her Italian in-laws by wearing a wedding dress with a red trim that looks like a big bloodstain. Then one of Stephanie’s previous cases, a school swimming coach with naked pictures of children, is referred to as “The Speedo Pedo.” One good thing about Another Simple Favor playing on streaming is that you can sit at home and fix yourself several of Emily’s martinis (remember: frozen gin and a frozen glass) to accompany all the drama.
Another Simple Favor
Starring Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively. Directed by Paul Feig. Written by Jessica Sharzer and Laeta Kalogridis. Rated R.
